Author's Note: Warning! Reading this chapter might induce sugar cravings! You have been warned!
Chapter two
While Maron carried the cups and pot to the kitchen to get them out of her sight until she felt energized enough to clean them, Fin curled up on the right armrest of one of the two armchairs. She remained still even as Maron came back and sat down beside her. The angel tightly hugged herself under the human's worried gaze.
Maron reached out and gently rubbed the back of Fin's head with a fingertip, without saying anything. She understood that it would take her friend more than being reverted into herself to get over the shame of all the pain she had caused. After the first pang of relief ran out, the memories came to hunt her – and now was not the time to pressure her into talking about it. Fin would share her pain by speaking when she was ready, forcing her into it might only increase the torment.
Knowing the dangers of not opening up about inner chaos though, Maron silently promised not to let it slip forever. But for the moment she decided to let Fin be until she felt better.
After a while, Maron leant her head back against the soft backrest and closed her eyes with a deep sigh. The final remains of tension began to let go of her and with it, any wish to get back up on her feet and think of something creative to do. Now the only thing she wanted to do was to let the memories of the last battle float away and give her peace of mind enough to face life after the war.
Her stomach churned. Fin turned her head at the loud belly groan and could not help but smile at Maron's exasperated look.
"If it's not one thing, it's another!" Maron said and reluctantly pushed away from the chair's comfortable softness.
She looked down at Fin.
"Do you want something too?"
"No… I'm fine," the little angel said, not looking Maron in the eye this time either.
Maron opened her mouth, hesitated and closed it again. She stepped towards the kitchen, but changed her mind again and spun around on her heel.
"It's alright now, Fin," she said.
The angel heaved herself up on her arms and nodded, smiling weakly.
"I'll be okay, Maron," she promised.
"I just want to make sure."
Maron smiled and disappeared into the kitchen.
Sighing, Fin laid back down and closed her eyes. There was just…
Fwumph
Her eyes shot open again as something swept past inches above her and softly crashed into the backrest of the chair. And slipped…
"Yikes!"
She rolled aside to avoid the flat, white object as it slid downwards. It finally landed on the chair's bottom, and Fin fluttered her wings to get a better view of things. Just as Maron rushed back into the room to check on what the sudden shout had been about, the little angel slapped her own forehead in disbelief.
"What is it?" Maron asked while she crossed the floor, still holding the butter knife she had planned on preparing a sandwich with.
"That Access!" Fin harrumphed, waving her arms about.
"Hmm?"
Maron picked up the notice card and read the text surrounded by symbols that seemed to be taken from the cover of an Arabian book.
Today at 5 pm, we will steal the last sorrow from the fair maidens' hearts.
-Kaito Access Time and Chiaki
"That's…" Maron began.
She paused and ran back into the kitchen to check the time, the nearest clock being hung on the wall in there.
"How much time?" Fin called after her, sounding quite a bit edgy.
"Half an hour!"
Maron returned, sans butter knife, and the gals huddled together on the floor.
"Should we lock the door?" Fin suggested.
She immediately shook her head and corrected herself.
"No, that won't work against either of them."
"Sandbags?" Maron mused, rapping her nails against the floor.
"Traps?"
"Miyako?"
"Wouldn't Inchou be better since it's Chiaki?"
"Maybe, but Miyako has combat practice."
"But she always fails capturing you!"
They stared at each other's serious expressions and cracked up in giggles within seconds. In the end, Maron ended up making a couple of normal sandwiches for her and two miniature ones for Fin to eat while they waited for the result of the boy's threat.
Seconds ticked by, and the food could not possibly last long enough to kill off enough time. The TV offered no interesting shows to ward off curious impatience, but the two girls did manage to pull through ten minutes by switching channels over and over.
The last two minutes were spent counting down the moments left, trying to be prepared for anything. And finally…
"Kaito Chiaki and Access Time have arrived!" Chiaki's voice boomed out from the balcony.
Fin and Maron spun around from staring at the entrance door, to find the young man pushing up the last inches of the balcony door with a dramatic movement, while the breeze ruffled his hair. Now he wore a normal blue t-shirt and jeans, as opposed to the torn gear he had worn during the battle. Access stood with his feet steadily planted on Chiaki's shoulder, leaning slightly the a brown stick in his tiny hand.
The ladies could not help but notice the plastic, pink bag in Chiaki's hand. It sort of ruined the overblown act.
"Fear not!" Access declared in as loud a voice that his vocal cords allowed, "for we have brought the ultimate cure for post-battle gloom!"
Two pairs of delicate eyebrows attempted to defy the laws of physics by rising higher up than they already had.
Chiaki held up the bag.
"Chocolate!" he and Access announced.
By the perfect timing of their voices, they must have practiced to say that.
They might have wanted to practice ducking, too. The surprise attack even left their hardened battle senses cold.
"Ooh! Gimme!"
And gone was the bag.
Chiaki had to admit to himself as he landed on his rear end, that he had not quite expected Maron to pounce at him to get the chocolate. Not a too bad feeling, though it might have been nicer if she had stayed longer.
"Aww no, my pocky!" Access complained, reaching his hands for Fin's disappearing back.
Maron dropped back into the armchair, humming to herself as she began to dig through the bag's contents. Fin dumped herself on the armrest again, biting away at the chocolate stick she had nabbed from Access.
Sighing a little, Chiaki got to his feet and walked closer, Access floating on behind him.
"You sure didn't pull any punches here," Maron said and looked over her shoulder, holding up a small box.
The velvety black cardboard of the small package was riddled with silver and gold flowers, making it look quite expensive. The ridiculous amount of numbers on the price label agreed with the fancy looks.
Chiaki lifted the box from her palm with his thumb and pointing finger only, and studied it for a moment.
"Well, we are celebrating, after all," he said.
"Sounds good to me… hey, neat!"
Maron's hands reemerged from the bag with a new treat, a glossy little sack with purple and silver stripes.
"I haven't eaten these in years!" she said.
Chiaki had to laugh as she tore at the blue ribbon keeping the sack closed. He peeked down into the big bag and reached down.
"I claim these!" he declared.
Maron looked up at the alarmingly red candy container, this one circular with a window showing the round, dark bonbon's inside.
"Doesn't those explode in your mouth?" she said, "you can have them."
"Gladly."
Still chuckling, Chiaki went to drag the other armchair closer to Maron. As he sat down, she had just emerged victorious against her candy of choice and popped three brown cubes of it into her mouth. She chewed for a couple of seconds, then paused. Access immediately took the chance to steal a bonbon from her sack, and triumphantly seated himself on the floor to deal with his quarry.
"What?" Chiaki said, worried by her thoughtful look that the chocolate tasted bad or something.
Maron shook her head and gave a soft laughter.
"I was just thinking… I'm debating about chocolate with the guy who brought it for me," she said, "suddenly I feel like a normal girl should, I guess."
"I was planning on making you enjoy a break, and that's a good start."
She looked at him from the corner of her eye while swallowing the sweet lump in her mouth.
"You tell me the truth," she said, "you're just fishing for another 'thank you', aren't you?"
Chiaki did not even flinch. Her none too suspicious tone removed all force from the accusation.
"Maybe. Eventually," he said.
And with that, he leant back and picked up one of the chocolate orbs filling his now open bag. With a fling of his thumb he catapulted it up and in a high arc into his mouth.
"Showoff," Maron said.
His retort was cut off as the crispy parts of the candy began to burst, prickling his tongue with tiny explosions. He had to cringe slightly until it faded away. When that happened, he fired off another one from his thumb and caught it on his tongue, causing Maron to shake her head in disbelief.
A green blur suddenly shot upwards from Maron's right, making her recoil a little in surprise.
"What's more in there?" Fin chirped and dove into the big bag.
"Hey! You might suffocate!" Maron warned as the pink, plastic sack seemed to come alive in her lap from all of Fin's rummaging.
The angel did not appear to be too worried about that, however. Maron reached out, but hesitated with her hands above the bag. Her small friend might get a few bruises if somebody tried to dig around all boxes and sacks while she was in the middle of it all, if not worse. The worry was mercifully cut short, however.
"Marzipan!"
Fin shot out of the bag, carrying a bar of something wrapped in yellow and gold paper. That it was almost as big as her did not seem to bother her. She landed on the table and began to tear at the wrapping.
"Let me have some too, Fin-chan!" Access shouted, bouncing off from the floor and flapping his grey wings excitedly.
He left the half-eaten bonbon behind, forgetting all about it when something more interesting came into sight.
It seemed as if Fin was about to chase him off at first, but she thought better of it. Probably because she could not possibly eat the entire marzipan bar by herself.
"Oh, fine then," she huffed as Access landed on the table a few inches from her, "but you stay on that end!"
She pointed at the other end of the bar. Access pouted for a moment, but finally accepted the order and went to bring his part of the treat into view.
Rather than risking any more angelic adventures in the dangerous world of the plastic bag, Maron began to empty the bag and place the contents on the table. Glossy packages in all possible colors soon glistened under the glow of the lamps, while the two small angels filled their mouths with dark chocolate and crushed nuts.
Satisfied, Maron leant back with her bonbons, and happily chomped away. She felt utterly content right then and there, and rested her head against the backrest with a deep, happy sigh. Chiaki moved forwards, and she watched him with lazy interest from the corner of her eye.
"Some author once said something along the lines of that your choice of sweets will tell a lot about your personality," he said as he swung back into the chair.
"Hmm?" Maron mumbled.
She found the idea silly, but as she rolled it over in her mind… it did seem to have a point, at least with Chiaki and the exploding chocolate.
He did not say anything for a little while, instead focused on something in his lap. Eventually the squeaky banter between Access and Fin turned into a distant whisper in Maron's ears, and her eyelids fluttered downwards. She almost dozed, though still remaining vaguely aware of things. Idly her tongue moved the sweet remains of the chocolate around in her mouth, but the aftertaste was turning bitter.
More feeling than seeing it, she noticed how Chiaki bent towards her, and she instinctively raised a hand to bat off a possibly incoming kiss aimed at her drowsy state. That would be cheating, and he would surely not flinch at stooping so low. She opened her eyes in protest as he easily parried the back of her fingers with his own palm. The playful smile, almost a smirk, was back and secure on his lips. Maron blinked away the fatigue, with some suspicion studying his face. Now what was he up to?
"Exclusive chocolate?" he said, raising his other hand.
He had opened the little black box, and now it rested in his palm. Still feeling a little suspicious, Maron bent forwards to have a peek inside of it. Set in smooth, dark plastic were two rows of white chocolate hearts, waiting to be shared.